Red Sox OF Kevin Pillar: ‘The time for making excuses is over’

Kevin Pillar continues to rake at Fenway Park, where he’s been a hit machine throughout his entire big league career.

But why is the former Blue Jays outfielder one of the few Red Sox players who finished the first homestand looking comfortable at the plate?

Pillar has a theory or two.

“I’d be lying to you if I said it’s not different (without fans),” he said. “I think players that get an opportunity to call this home, even me as a player who came here so often as a visiting player, you’re so accustomed to the unique atmosphere that this stadium brings, the fans, the energy in this ballpark. It’s taken some guys a little bit of time to adjust to that.

“I think getting out on the road might be good for this team.”

If the missing crowd is making the difference, the Sox are in trouble.

“I think we have to find ways to individually bring energy,” Pillar said. “Guys that are not playing, guys in the dugout, we have to find ways to create our own energy, create energy amongst our team.

“Ultimately we have to go out and play a little better, maybe score some runs early, everybody starts to feel good. When you get down early and hit some balls hard and they’re not falling, the natural tendency is to feel sorry for yourself, try a little bit harder. I think we need to relax overall as a team, not try to carry the team individually but go out, do our part, stick with the game plan and hopefully things work out.”

Pillar entered Tuesday with a career .316 average at Fenway Park, where he’s mostly played as a member of the Jays. But after signing a one-year, $4.25 million deal with the Sox this season, Pillar is now playing right field at Fenway for the home team, and playing it well.

He was 3-for-4 on Tuesday and is 7-for-12 with three doubles to start the season.

The Red Sox, though, are 1-4 and playing poorly on both sides of the ball.

“I don’t think anyone is feeling sorry for ourselves,” Pillar said. “I don’t think anyone is too overly concerned about our start. But this was definitely a wakeup call for us needing to come out offensively, push some runs across, do the little things better on the basepaths, play some cleaner defense and hopefully we’ll turn it around on the road.”

The coronavirus pandemic is making for a strange season.

“There’s nothing normal about what’s going on and it’s going to take guys some time to adjust a little bit,” Pillar said. “Now that we’ve gotten through our rotation, most of our pitchers have gotten in the game, most of our hitters played the field, gotten at-bats. The time for making excuses is over. This is baseball in 2020. We have to find a way to make the best of it.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2DgQW74